Article: EAB Update in the Local Paper

DeWitte, Diane K. 2011. "A Destructive Pest: An Update on the Emerald Ash Borer." The Mankato Free Press. November 30.


Last month, as I worked for complete my prospectus for this class, I found an article in the local paper, The Mankato Free Press. Written by a U of M Extension educator, Diane K. DeWitte, the article provides the area with an update on what the ash borer is, what threat it presents, and what can be done to prevent it from moving. She mentions the reason for the update: the upcoming 10 year anniversary of EAB's discovery in Michigan in 2002.
She provides a timeline of EAB in Minnesota, from its discovery in Ramsey County in 2009, then Hennepin County and Houston County, and two years later another in Ramsey and more in Houston and the city of Winona.


To protect homeowner trees, DeWitte mentions the usual scouting for "D" shaped holes and woodpecker activity. She also states that insecticide should not be applied if the tree is "out of the likely range of emerald ash borer," and that "unnecessary insecticide application is a waste of money." Ashes are only at risk, she says, if EAB is found within a 10-15 mile radius. Probably due to limited word count for the article, she provides an excellent short synopsis of the EAB life cycle. 


This article was easy to understand for anyone interested in trees. It appeared on the front page of the Home and Garden section with three large, color images. The only downside is that it has no local angle, no opportunity for readers in Mankato to connect in a local way with the author.


I want to follow up with these three things mentioned at the end of the article:

1. There are three wasps being studied by the department of agriculture. What are they?
2. There are new requirements for heat-treating wooden shipping pallets. What are those requirements?
3. The Minnesota Tree Care Advisors will put out a communication plan in 2012. What will it be and who are those advisors?

Article: A New Exotic Pest

Hacket, Robert A.,  Eduard Jendek, Houping Liu, Kenneth R. Marchant, Toby R. Petrice, Therese M. Poland, and Hui Ye. 2002. "The emerald ash borer: a new exotic forest pest in North America." Newsletter. Michigan Entomology Society: (47) 3&4. September.


This newsletter brought some bad news to the United States. The authors, collaborators from America, Canada, Slovakia, and China, worked together to identify a new insect found in Michigan in June of 2002. When researchers observed some ash trees were declining, they noticed the "D"-shaped holes in the bark and the cambium-killing larvae tunnels. 


Quickly identifying the beetle was not possible. There are more than 2,000 species in the Agrilus family, so it wasn't until July 9th, when the specimens where shipped to Eduard Jendek, a specialist in Asian Agrilus, that the bug was positively identified at Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (2). Shortly after, the Michigan Department of Agriculture started enforcing quarantines in infested counties. Meanwhile, Canadian authorities had found a similar beetle, it wasn't until August 7th that it too was confirmed as the same insect (2). At this point, researchers estimated the insect had been established for five years (4)!!!


This article provided great insight on the process of determining a new species in an environment. When an animal breaks through to a new boundary or region, it can easily be identified. Not so with small insects who come from wide families and get carried on shipping containers. 


When the insect was identified, the researches took votes on what to call it. They wanted to make sure the media didn't name the insect (1). Oregon Department of Agriculture's Richard Wescott and Natalia Vandenburg of the USDA suggested the name Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). Votes were tallied and a new acronym was born (1). 


The taxonomy section mentioned that the beetle goes by other names as well.  

Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (1888; type China) has several synonyms, including A. marcopoli Obenberger (1930; type China), A. marcopoli ulmi Kurosawa (1956; type Japan), and A. feretrius Obenberger (1936; type Taiwan) (Jendek 1994).  EAB is referred to as A. marcopoli in much of the Chinese literature and as A. marcopoli ulmi in Japan.  Based on the morphology of the scutellum, deep pronotal medial sulcus, and robust body, A. planipennis appears most closely related to the Asian species A. auristermum Obenberger, A. cyaneoniger Saunders, and A. lubopetri Jendek (2).

I didn't know this was allowed in the world of entomology—it certainly makes things confusing. But I can understand why it would be very difficult to streamline names across cultures, especially when one culture has completely adapted a name. I wonder then, do other countries refer to EAB by these other names still? Or has the new concern in the West changed the way people refer to it? I looked at Eduard Jendek's website later and found nearly 100 varieties of insects named after him.


EAB, though new, is not alone as an foreign Agrilus. The authors list six other exotic members of the Agrilus family established in the United States (4).


The native habitat is described as Northeastern China, Far Eastern Russia, and Taiwan. The authors say only two Asian research articles were found on the bug, one from 1986, one from 1992 (2). Hacket, et al. provide a synopsis of these studies and describe other upcoming studies from Michigan (2). Significant early timetables provide a step-by-step retelling of the early infestation and where the beetles in the same family had been found at points of entry, although it was implied the ships were from China and Japan, the authors show it needed more study (4).


To conclude, the authors warn readers with a level-headed use of emotional language. Resources are said to be "at risk," because the wherever the insect moved, it "successfully attacked." The result could be "considerable economic and environmental damage." Therefore, "A vigorous research and management program along with harmonized quarantine actions are urgently needed to contain this new exotic tree pest" (5). 

Narrative: The Start of a Crisis, Crossing the Mississippi

In early April, 2009, officials confirmed some bad news for Minnesota's ash trees. The news originated in Victory, Wisconsin, just across the Mississippi River from Minnesota's Houston County. 


A stand of ash trees in Victory were dying for no apparent reason. When inspected, thousands of little tunnels were revealed under the bark of the trees. These tunnels signaled a new turn of events in the battle for many forests and urban trees near the Mississippi River.


Many small green bugs created the tunnels. As they grew from a larvae stage, the bugs chewed through the phloem, the life-veins of the trees, and emerged out of the bark as full-grown flying beetles with brilliant green wings.  During their short life span they mate and burrow back into the bark to reproduce and die. 


But while their life cycle continues, the tree they call home slowly withers, unable to get the resources needed through its phloem. Within a three years, its foliage is completely gone and its bark, dry and brittle, peels off.


So for Houston County, bordered by Iowa to the south and the Mississippi River to the east, trouble was at the doorstep. Reporters carried the broadcast to every major city in the state. People hundreds of miles north, in Ely, Grand Marais, International Falls, winced at the news. The Emerald Ash Borer had nearly arrived.


The Minnesota Department of Agriculture moved quickly to carry the messages about not moving firewood, and they set a quarantine on any logging or movement of hardwoods in Houston county. County meetings were called and the MDA discussed their future plans to search for the bug in the vicinity. But it took another full year until infected ash trees were found in the county. The MDA gave confirmation of the infestation on April 29th, 2010. 


By then, the flying bug already migrated 175 miles northwest—to the Twin Cities. 




“Forest Protection Reserve Appropriation.” Minnesota Department of Agriculture. 15 Oct. 2009. PDF. <http://www.mda.state.mn.us/news/government/~/media/Files/news/govrelations/fpr-firstquarter2010.ashx>

“MDA Confirms Emerald Ash Borer Infestation In Houston County.” MDA.state.mn.us. Minnesota Department of Agriculture. 29 April 2010. Web. 26 Sept. 2011.